Alloy Contest and A Little Bit About Boys Tees

When I started this I didn't plan to be sharing so many sales and promotions but that has turned out to be a fun direction.  I'll try not to do it so much in the future but I probably will still share them with you so you don't miss out on the good deals and sales that I hear about.

I have a quick one today.  Alloy (I've shared about them before - I love to get my Vigold jeans from them and I ordered a few things from there last week that I shared pictures of my order) has a Facebook contest going right now to win a $1000 gift card with them.  You just have to "like" their page and enter the entry form.  Super simple right?  They do this promotion a couple times a year.  I always enter and haven't ever won but I would sure love to.  If I don't win, I want one of my friends to win :) If you enter through me via the link I'll post below, I get an additional entry too.  Enter and share with your friends.  Let's one of us win :)
http://bit.ly/12ygDCq <--- Enter from this link to give me credit too :)

Now, on to the boys....

I am not a fan of printed T-shirts for girls as a general rule.... or really the standard T for girls at all.  I think a slightly more dressy T is much more flattering for women.  Even just a T with a V-neck is so much better than the standard T.  That being said, I love T's on guys.  Especially soft, fitted ones.

One of my favorite places to buy T's for the man in my life is Threadless (www.Threadless.com).  It's a website where people submit original designs and artwork and members of the site vote on them and if they get enough votes, they become shirts and you can buy them.  I've bought several for my husband from Threadless and am happy every time the shirts arrive.  Depending on the design, it can be bought in T, tank, long sleeve, sweatshirt, mens & womens, and sometimes babies and childrens sizes.  But as I said already, I think they are best for men (babies ones would actually probably be really cute too).  Right now, Threadless has all their T's on sale for $15.  They also have an awesome clearance selection as well so you can usually find awesome shirts for less on clearance.

Some of the designs I'm loving right now are:



"The City That Never Sleeps" Designed by Dina Prasetyawan



"World of Bike" Designed by Matt Hoch



"Which Door?" Designed by Patrick Seymour - They did a contest for Monsters, Inc. themed shirts to go with the movie when it came out.  This is probably my favorite from those.



"Blow Away Barcode" Designed by Kevin Keeton

I could list dozens of shirts from their site that I like.  They are great shirts and I love seeing my husband in them.  I feel like they are good quality too.  They've been holding up really well.

Other places to get good mens T's:



Old Navy has fun prints and I also love their soft wash, V-neck T's.  They are soft and a V is always flattering for men, especially muscular ones, such as my husband.  www.OldNavy.com The one above is "Men's Boombox Graphic Tee" on sale for $6.99.



Banana Republic.  I've gotten a bunch of shirts from there for the hubs over the years.  The occasionally have fun prints but it's their soft wash and vintage T's that sold me on their shirts.  www.BananaRepublic.com The shirt above is "Vintage V-Neck Tee" and comes in a variety of colors.  Priced at $29.50.



Forever 21.  Believe it or not.  I have a love/hate relationship with Forever 21.  Their clothes aren't the best quality and it's definitely hit or miss with finding something you like but I have gotten some of my favorite pieces of my wardrobe from Forever 21 over the years.  And they always have fun T's for men.  We've gotten several from there as well.  The shirt above is "Abstract Graphic Tee" priced at $14.80. www.Forever21.com

Boden Promotion

Boden (www.BodenUSA.com) is doing buy 3 get 1 for $1 plus free shipping now through June 3rd (4th item is obviously the least expensive item).  That's a pretty sweet deal!

I would be getting this Lace Dress ($199).

This "Rainy Day Mac" Coat ($142.40-$178 depending on color/print).  I of course love the orange polka dots.

 

This Beautiful Bow Dress in green ($118.40).  This dress is great for summer weddings, or hot dates.  It's simple but dressy at the same time.

And lastly, I think I would get this Glam Summer Maxi ($168).  I love a maxi dress in the summer.  They're so comfortable and the ones I have already always make me feel like a Greek goddess.  They are definitely a summer must have in my book.

A feature that I like about the Boden website is that they have an outfit maker.  This allows you to combine pieces from their catalog together to see how they work.  You can even add accessories to the look to see how accessories add to the whole ensemble.  See my sample below.  You can add pieces, remove what doesn't work, and it keeps track of the cost of the outfit you're making.  More sites should do this.  It's a great way to sell wardrobes rather than just pieces.

Just a Quick Monday Tidbit - Nordstrom Promotion

Nordstrom is offering $20 off orders of $50 or more now through the 31st.  Who doesn't love Nordstrom?  I certainly do love it there but never shop there as it is slightly out of my price range.  But if you shop with them online right now, you just need to enter "SUMMER20" at checkout to get the $20 off.

Nordstrom now carries Alexander McQueen.  I love how McQueen uses classic silhouettes but uses fun prints or zippers, etc to make his designs unique and pop.  Of what Nordstrom will be carrying, I think this dress is my favorite:

It's a light weight wool crepe.  Moderately priced at a merely $2,680.  (If only that really were a moderately priced).  Fun print.  Definitely won't be a part of my wardrobe though.

This leather McQueen jacket is also pretty fabulous but it's priced at $4,475.

More affordable at Nordy right now:

This Diane von Furstenberg "Bentley" ruched dress.  On clearance for $170.98.  I love DvF.  She is my favorite designer.  This is a little more simple than what I usually am drawn to from her.  I generally love her simple designs and use of prints.  Obviously, no print here but it's DvF and it's orange.  Can't go wrong with either of those.

Elie Tahari "Regan - Rainbow Snake" blouse.  Silk.  $160.80.  Elie Tahari is another one of my designer loves.  I feel like Tahari understands the female body and how to flatter it in his simple, feminine, designs.

This Donna Morgan print matte jersey shift dress is a fun summer dress.  I love the colors and print on it.  On sale currently for $64.80.

Sales!!

I was hoping to post one of my creations in my 2nd post but life has been a bit hectic this past week, as it always is.  So, instead, I thought I'd share some sale information for sales I know that are going on at stores I love.

First, is Banana Republic (www.BananaRepublic.com), which I love dearly and probably half of my wardrobe is from (partially because I worked there for several years).  Today they are offering 30% off purchases of $150 or more online.  Just enter "BRTAKE30" at checkout.  If I were shopping with them today, I would be ordering the following:


I love this trench.  It's on clearance now for $145.99.  It is two things that I love; orange and a jacket.  I have an obsession with jackets.


I love a classic handbag.  I don't own many bags but I admire classic bags that will be appropriate for everyday life and stand the test of time.  This reminds me of Coach and one of their standby bags that are white leather with colored leather trim.  It seems like they have a version of that bag every year.  This one is canvas and runs at $198.


Boden (www.BodenUSA.com) is offering 15% off and free shipping & free returns.  I haven't ever ordered from Boden but I love their style.  They have simple designs but use fun fabric choices.  I am loving the following from them right now:

I think their Retro Pocket Dress is super cute.  It comes in different colors.  I'd probably go for the green and white print.  This one is $128.

The Selina Dress is classic and would be great to dress up or down depending on the occasion and accessories you use.  I, of course, am loving the rust color in this picture but it also comes in about a half a dozen colors.  This one is more spendy at $198.

This Notch Neck Shift dress is on clearance right now.  They actually have a pretty extensive clearance section at the moment making them much more affordable and there are a ton of cute things to choose from.  Especially with the 15% off of your purchase they have running right now.  I don't see it saying anywhere that the 15% is only good on full priced merchandise so I believe you can take it off of clearance as well but I'm not positive so don't take me to the bank on that one.

One of my favorite sites to shop from is Alloy (www.Alloy.com).  It's geared towards teenagers and it's hit and miss but I order pretty much all of my jeans from them.  I love Vigold brand and they cost around $30 through Alloy.  I have a hard time justifying spending $200 or more on designer jeans, even if I love how they look, because I've made jeans before and I know how inexpensive they are to make and how quick and easy they are to make.  So it's much easier for me mentally to order $30 jeans from them.  And now I have probably 15 pairs of jeans whereas if I were buying designer, I'd only have about 3 pairs at the same cost.  They are currently offering free shipping on orders of $75 or more.  You just have to type in "AGFW75" at checkout.  I have a shopping cart of things at the moment and with all of the below, my total is a whopping $71.78.  Not bad at all:

What/Who Is An Untraditional Fashionista?

I am perhaps a bit of an oxymoron.  I don't consider myself a fashionista in the literal sense.  I don't follow fashion religiously.  I don't spend hours upon hours at the mall or flipping through fashion magazines.  I can't look at a garment and tell you who the designer is off hand (most of the time anyway).  I don't get a new wardrobe every season to keep up with the current trends.  I don't own any designer clothing.  I don't subscribe to WWD (Womens Wear Daily).  I pretty much always wear jeans and a tee shirt and hardly ever do my hair and even less often do I wear makeup.

So why do I consider myself a fashionista at all? 

That is a good question.  I don't consider myself an authority in the world of fashion at all.  However, I studied fashion in school, have designed collections for about a dozen fashion shows, I've received multiple awards for my designs and pattern making, have quite an extensive wardrobe, worked retail for about a decade, love, love, love textiles, and have a deep appreciation for well made clothing and fine fabrics.  I love the world of fashion and clothing but am not consumed by it.  Thus, I consider myself "An Untraditional Fashionista."

I believe that fashion is everywhere.  Not just in the clothes we wear.  Fashion is life, as cliché as that sounds.  Fashion is in the clothes we wear, in the cars we drive, in the way we decorate our houses, in our appliances, in the pets we own, in how we arrange our desks, in the beauty of flowers and nature.  Fashion is everywhere and fashion is inspired by everything.

In my blog, I don't plan to spend a considerable amount of time on current trends, what top designers are doing, or who wore it best type things.  I may still do those things to some degree but I don't believe that will be the focus of my writings.  I just plan to share what things I love and what inspires me.  I hope to design clothing based off of those things and share those as well.

My thought is that with the world and technology being what it is now, we are surrounded by fashion and resources.  I, like I am sure many, am pretty hooked on Pinterest.  I have multiple boards dedicated to fashion on it.  I have one for wardrobing ideas, one for fashion project tutorials and patterns, and one for clothing and accessories that I see online and just love, not to mention boards for hair, makeup, nails, etc.  If you look at my "Clothing <3" board, you would see that the things I love are not the things I told you I wear.  There are a few reasons for that... mostly that the things I admire and love, aren't the things that are practical to my current lifestyle.  I love classic clothing.  I love tailored, well made suits and dresses.  I love silks and wools.  However, I manage a warehouse.  I have 3 messy, jumpy dogs.  I can't wear skirts and heels to work.  I don't want dogs jumping all over my fresh silk dresses.  I don't have thousands of dollars of disposable income every month to spend on apparel.  Things like that.  Those might sound like excuses and to some degree maybe they are.  But that is the life I lead and who I am.  Maybe one day I will have a life where I can be different than what I am now but that isn't the case now and I am happy with that.  That doesn't mean I don't understand and appreciate clothing construction, design, or fashion any less.  I still like to dress up on weekends or for events.  I have dozens of different shoes.  I have plenty of dresses.  I have nice, quality clothing but those aren't my every day reality.

In short, this is who I am.  I will share with you the things that inspire me, things I appreciate, things I create, etc.  Welcome to my blog :)